1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
129 
SOILING AND ENSILAGE. 
Part III. 
We dislike to feed a cow from a bag as much as we 
dislike to feed the land from one. Our energies are 
bent to raise our own feed of all descriptions. We are 
gaining on it. Our mistake in corn planting will cost 
us considerable corn meal this winter. 
Grain With Rye Fodder; Clover Saves Half. 
This rye was sown in fodder corn during the last 
week in August 1891. The corn was as large as would 
do for the passage of a horse, and ready for its last 
cultivation. It was then cultivated both ways. It was 
cut October 8, and the rye had the field. 
The cows ate this green fodder ravenously, and the 
increase of milk yield was immediately apparent. The 
milk is of excellent quality if care has been taken to 
begin the feed very gradually. If the greatest care in 
feeding is not taken, a disagreeable flavor is given to 
the product. We begin to cut rye by dividing the dif¬ 
ference between the waste of an immature crop and 
our eager desire to get the cows upon green feed. If 
the ensilage holds out, it is better to let the rye alone 
until May is well advanced. If the ensilage is gone, 
the increase in quantity and improvement in quality 
of the milk will compensate for some loss of rye from 
immaturity. If some winter wheat has been sown it 
will come about a week later than rye sown at the 
same time; all of these crops that is not fed green is 
cut for hay later. 
Clover. —June 1 we began cutting clover from our 
banner field. This banner piece—two acres—was the 
result of a mistake. Albert, in carting manure, put 
on nearly double our usual quantity. We generally 
apply 20 two-horse loads per acre of manure that has 
suffered no loss from weathering. Such mistakes as the 
above are the hope of agriculture. This clover was 
fed for ten days, the whole being cut and cocked in 
the meantime. The crop was heavy, though I cannot 
give the figures. As soon as the land was clear it was 
broken up and planted with white Southern corn on 
June 25, in hills 3%x3% feet apart, five or six kernels 
to the hill. This went into the silo in the last two 
weeks of September still immature. We are feeding 
it now. The ensilage is good but not a heavy feed, as 
the ears were but just formed. We have to supple¬ 
ment it with corn meal from a bag. That is a pen¬ 
ance for poor calculation in planting a long-growing 
corn so late. It yielded 24 great green watery tons 
per acre, two rows across the lot making a 2,500-pound 
load against three rows of the corn we generally raise. 
About September 30 this piece was sowed with rye, 
covered with the one-hor&e cultivator, and is promis¬ 
ing well for next spring. I am enough of a milkmaid 
to stop and multiply those acres by 80 and imagine 
how many barns and silos this farm might fill. 
Pasture, Oats and Peas, Corn. 
Pasture. —By this time our 25 or 30 acres of pasture 
have arisen and stretched themselves. Give them their 
due. It is easy farming to turn the cows up the lane 
in the morning and have no heavy feed to handle, no¬ 
thing to do but to let down the bars at night. Blessed 
be the dairyman in such a country ! But he must have 
many acres. I am not writing for him. I am writing 
for the many situated as we are. 
Oats and Peas —After the middle of June hot 
weather begins to tell in the pail. We must keep open 
ear for the first whisper. June 21 we begin cutting 
the oats and peas sowed April 1, feeding till July 7. 
In the meantime the acre had been cut with scythes 
and cured in cocks. When these were put in the barn 
we began on the second acre sowed a week later and 
fed until these were ready for the barn. 
Evergreen Corn was planted 3x3 feet apart along¬ 
side the potatoes, and at the same time—April 20. 
This was cultivated and hoed with the potatoes. 
Crane’s Prolific, a 90-day flint corn, was planted 
May 17 and was ready for green feeding at the same 
time as the Evergreen. Both were fed after July 19. 
The name of the sweet corn indicates one of its valu¬ 
able qualities for green feeding. These varieties of 
corn were fed until August 24 when we began filling 
the silo. Then the mangers were filled each day with 
whatever corn came in on the wagon. This lasted till 
October 8 . 
Barley and Peas.— These were sown upon the 
ground from which the oats and peas had been taken. 
They were a partial failure, growing unevenly ; but 
they are valuable, extending the green season after 
corn has succumbed to frost. Ours lasted in good con¬ 
dition until nearly the first of November. They finish 
the green-cut fodder crops. 
As all of our corn ground at this time is covered with 
a good growth of rye or wheat, we let the cows feed 
down the rank, earlier sowings, and give them cut, 
cured corn fodder with cotton-seed meal in the barn, 
feeding one or two quarts per cow daily. This is the 
first grain the cows have had since about June 1. With 
enough mature ensilage, this would probably be suffi¬ 
cient all winter. And—keep your eyes on this, gentle¬ 
men !— the best dairy miiids think they can see the day not 
far distant when a combination of mature com ensilaqe, 
with clover hay or some other nitrogenous fodder, for in¬ 
stance, oats and peas cured , will drive the meal bag out of 
the Eastern dairyman's bam, and cause the lumber from 
his meal bin to be reconstructed into a roof over his manure 
heap 
Manure Pile and Fertilizer Bag. 
We yearly produce from 180 to 190 two-horse loads 
of stable manure. We supplement this with enough 
commercial fertilizer to go over about twc-thirds of 
our arable land yearly. We should go over it all yearly. 
I have seen the fence of a barn-yard so high that 
active, long-legged cattle could not jump over, yet the 
liquid manure was running out beneath. These fences 
were horse-high and bull-strong, but not manure- 
tight. We have no barnyard manure except chance 
droppings of the cattle in going to the stable. 
These are scraped upon the manure heap. Our stables 
are cleaned once daily. The manure is wheeled upon 
a compact pile under a shed of loose boards. About 
once in two weeks in winter we spread the manure 
upon the land. In summer we spread it whenever a 
cleared field is ready for it. We save the liquid part 
by the use of absorbents in the trenches behind the 
cows. It may be better to pile the manure in the field 
and turn it to promote decomposition. We have done 
so more or less ; but the pile never seemed to go as far 
as when applied directly to the land. Moreover, direct 
application appeals to the sympathies of the lazy man. 
There is work enough when reduced to a minimum. 
Indeed the labor of handling home-made manure is a 
strong argument of the bag man for his pet. 
I do not believe in barnyard manure, thinking that 
the washing, bleaching and soaking with rain water 
should only take place after it has reached its ulti¬ 
mate destination in the field. But after having saved 
all of our fertilizer, on a milk-selling farm at least, 
some bought manure is necessary. So it is well to 
watch carefully what The Rural is teaching us upon 
this subject, for fertilizer buying is an ugly profit 
butchery unless the most careful dissecting skill is 
exerci scd« 
Absorbents Must Be Used. 
An absorbent is something dry enough to absorb. 
The chief use of bedding, under cows upon floors pro¬ 
vided with trenches, is to absorb and hold the liquid 
manure. We have carted over 30 tons of salt hay a year 
a distance of eight miles. We would buy the standing 
grass, cut and stack it in August and cart in the late 
fall. Some of the best of it was eaten by the cows, 
but most of it was used for litter without cutting. 
Bed as carefully as we might, there was always in the 
trench much liquid which was wasted more or less in 
handling. The sawdust pile of a steam sawmill four 
miles from home furnished us a better absorbent than 
the salt bay. This was fermented and the results of 
its use have been satisfactory in the stable and on the 
land. But the refuse of a traveling sawmill is not a 
permanent dependence. Forest leaves are a valuable 
source of stable litter. We take sacks into the 
woods and fill one or two loads. Sixty sacks can be 
brought in on the wagon and may be either emptied 
in the barn or piled up until wanted. Two men will 
easily collect a load in a day and their value must be 
half that of a ton of salt hay. Cut straw is of course, 
a good litter, but expensive at present prices. If one 
has a power cutter all coarse litter that will not injure 
the knives should go through it. The lasting quality, 
the absorbing power, the texture of the manure, all 
are improved. _ E. c. birge. 
THAT NEW AGRICULTURAL BILL. 
Gov. Flower’s Bill, introduced into the New York 
Legislature by Mr. Hilton, Chairman of the House 
Committee on Agriculture, on January 30th, entitled, 
an Act in Relation to Agriculture, is not likely to have 
plain sailing on the road to success. As introduced, 
it proposes to constitute a Department of Agriculture 
which shall be under the general charge of the Com¬ 
missioner of Agriculture, and he shall have control of 
all the various phases of agriculture which have here¬ 
tofore been conducted by separate departments. The 
theory of this law is not objectionable. In practice, 
it will need to be very largely modified unless it 
is to work disaster to the agricultural interests of 
the State. 
The manifest tendency of the bill in its present shape 
is to create a “ political machine ” which our readers 
do not need to be told will not conserve the interests 
of the agricultural population of the State. It pro¬ 
vides that the Commissioner of Agriculture shall be 
appointed by the Governor; his term of office shall be 
three years; he shall be paid an annual salary of 
$ 5,000 and all necessary expenses incurred m the dis¬ 
charge of his duties. It also permits him to appoint 
all clerks, assistant commissioners, chemists, agents 
and counsel he may deem necessary, and it also au¬ 
thorizes him to fix the compensation that they shall 
receive. This is a dangerous power to place in the 
hands of any one man. It is safe to assume that a de¬ 
partment so created would shelter a swarm of sine- 
curists and that the expense of conducting it would be 
an intolerable burden. No such unrestricted power 
should be placed in the hands of any one man. 
Under the section pertaining to dairy products, a 
list of definitions is given, of milk which shall be 
declared, under the law, adulterated. One of these 
declares that milk containing less than 12 per cent of 
solids shall be considered adulterated; another, that 
milk containing less than three and three-tenths per 
cent of butter fats shall be declared adulterated. This 
is a change in the standard heretofore recognized in 
this State. Under the present law, milk containing 12 
per cent of solids, of which three are fats, is considered 
legal milk. It is a serious matter to raise the standard 
from three to three and three-tenths per cent of butter 
fats to constitute legal milk. No one questions the 
desirability of this high standard if it could be 
achieved without injustice, but if we except the two 
well-known breeds of Jersey and Guernsey, there is 
hardly a herd of dairy cattle in the State whose milk it 
would not be dangerous to sell in the open market at 
certain seasons, with the standard thus raised. 
This list of definitions omits one which should be 
added, that declaring all milk adulterated to which 
skimmed milk has been added, even though it should 
conform to the test of a chemical analysis. This is a 
reform seriously needed. Under the present law a 
farmer or milk producer who sells milk to a butter or 
cheese factory, who has added to or taken anything 
from it, is guilty of a misdemeanor, even though the 
milk should show the necessary 12 per cent of solids 
by analysis, while the dealer may add skimmed milk 
or water to his heart’s content, if his milk is rich 
enough to allow him to do it and still stand the test of 
12 per cent solids. 
The clause which requires all cans containing milk 
exposed for sale to be branded with letters not less 
than an inch in length with the name of the county in 
which the same is produced is a useless tax on pro¬ 
ducer and dealer alike, and seems to serve no wise 
purpose. 
The clause which places “ The New York Agricul¬ 
tural Experiment Station” under the exclusive control 
of the Commissioner of Agriculture is another very 
dangerous innovation. By this provision, the director, 
chemist and all other officials connected with the 
station are to be appointed by the Commissioner or re¬ 
moved at his pleasure He is also authorized to make 
rules and regulations for carrying on the station’s 
work and shall have in charge the expenditure of all 
moneys appropriated therefor. If this had been 
labeled “ A clause to transform the Agricultural Ex¬ 
periment Station into a political machine” it would 
have aptly described it. Imagine, if you please, the 
present Dairy Commissioner, Mr. Schraub, who under 
the provisions of the law becomes the Commissioner of 
Agriculture, attempting the work of running the Ex¬ 
periment Station. Judging from his work in the Dairy 
Commission, we might expect that Dr. Collier and his 
esteemed corps of assistants would be required, in order 
to retain their positions, to appear, hat in hand, be¬ 
fore the local managers of the political machine and 
beg for their indorsement. It is easy to see that the 
efficiency of the station, under such management, 
would be reduced to a very low point. It should be 
removed entirely from the field of politics and not 
plunged into the unclean vortex. 
There are other minor objections to the bill, which 
need attention, but as we understand it is to be re¬ 
vised before it is seriously discussed, we suspend 
further comments until a revised copy comes to our 
hands. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
At a field trial held at Kimberly, South Africa, last fall, the machines 
made by the Johnston Harvester Co., of Batavia, N Y., were very suc¬ 
cessful. The reaper and binder won the highest prize, a gold medal, 
as did the mower; their pulverizer and other exhibits won sliver 
medals. 
Stockbridge Manures.— The catalogue of the Bowker Fertilizer 
Company, Boston, Mass., Is a very Interesting publication filled with 
excellent pictures and read¬ 
able facts about the use of the 
Stockbridge fertilizers. It Is 
stated here that “there Is noth¬ 
ing which equals stable man¬ 
ure In every respect.” That Is 
true. With the exception of its 
shortage In phosphoric acid, 
stable manure will always be 
the model plant food, but a 
good fertilizer and the wastes 
of previous crops, like roots, 
stubble and straw, to supply 
vegetable matter, will give the 
best substitute known. The 
Stockbridge manures are made 
In special forms for all crops. 
The motto of the Stockbridge 
system Is: “Feed the plant and the plant will feed you.” The 
trade-mark of the company Illustrates not only the truth of this 
proposition, but also the reverse Of It, viz: “Starve the plant and you 
will starve with Itll’ 
